I agree that Freddy over-reacted, and I agree that Bolo and Lori are rightfully wronged when he looked at them, assuming they pulled the gate down.

But I think Bolo crossed the line by mimicking Freddy's voice in a "feminine" voice - "My face is messed up, my face is messed up!". Yes, you may not like them, but do you really have to insult what he looks like?

Bolo is arrogant. I didn't think he was before, but now I think differently. His first place finish was well-deserved, but he shouldn't have acted cocky and proud the entire way to the top.

Lori is right - he's stubborn. "You ain't first till Phil says you're first." Kris and Jon didn't go around parading the fact that they're first when they were in Norway.

But I think Bolo crossed the line by mimicking Freddy's voice in a "feminine" voice - "My face is messed up, my face is messed up!". Yes, you may not like them, but do you really have to insult what he looks like?

Bolo is arrogant. I didn't think he was before, but now I think differently. His first place finish was well-deserved, but he shouldn't have acted cocky and proud the entire way to the top.

Bolo did the right thing, what would you want Bolo to do give him a pounding. Its Freddy and Kendra who are arrogant critizing other cultures because their ways of living......

" Im going to break you in half" and you thought Bolo was arrogant. Not trying to be rude

I replayed the scene on my VCR countless times. Here is what I surmize - all locations are facing the racers:

Lori & Bolo - far right, in front. Lori is facing sideways and Bolo's hands are at his side as the gate goes up. At the point the gate starts coming down, Bolo is already moving forward and his hands are still down. Same for Lori. Probability=0

Adam & Rebecca (pepper demon) - they are behind L&B. I'm not sure they are tall enough to have reached that far either. Rebecca's yawning as the gate goes up. Prob=-10

Kris & Jon - like these two would pull the gate down. They are on the fornt row to the left of L&B. Their arms stay down the whole time, also, during the raising of the bar. Prob=0

Gus & Hera - on the back row next to F&K. I agree that Hera got the worst of the force. Prob=0

and finally, that brings us to our villains

Jonathug & Victoria (I really wanted to name a daughter that, oh well) - they start out somewhere near the middle but end up the farthest to the left, near the fulcrum with Jonavillain farthest over. We don't get a good shot of them as the gate is going up, but we do get one before anything happens. Jonathan has a smirk, mischievious smirk, like he's planning something while they appear to be more in the center. As the gate goes up they are not in the initial shot upclose but show up as a blur in the distant shot. He appears to actually duck under the gate as it goes up and appears to be through it as it comes down. The picture is VERY grainy at this point and then they do the behind shot that focuses on Freddy. From this vantage point we see Jonathan running away from the gate in only a few frames and he is way to the right of everyone else. Prob=VERY HIGH

My analysis, and I don't want to read too much into this (but that is half the fun, right?):
I don't by the gravity, all-by-itself, thing. Major design flaw, if so. And we all know what great engineers the Euros are, right. Prob=5%

I also am not comfortable with it went up too hard and bounced back down. I don't think it was all the way up. If it were, the gate would be useless in that configuration as no vehicle of any size could pass through. Prob=0

Possibilities:
1. The race organizers designed it like that. The gatekeeper (what a great word) was told to let/force the gate to do this. I'm not comfortable with this as I don't think they would do something that might intentionally hurt the racers. Make the racers sick eating 24 oz of spicy soup, sure - dinged by a gate, no. Prob=10%

2. When our villain, Jonathan, ducked under the gate, he got caught on it causing it come back down. I'll be generous and say that has a high probability. Prob=50+%

3. Jonathug recognizes an opportunity. By yanking it back down, he could severly inhibit the progress of other teams. No one is behind him and he's off to the side, out of everyone's view. The smirk as edited - supporting evidence. He seems to veer off (although he is hidden by others, so this is conjecture based on his trajectory in the 2 different views) and doesn't keep pace with other racers who made it through the gate, as if taking a look back (as a runner, I can attest that looking back can make you veer). In the mad rush he seems to have caught up, later. So he was even, behind, even/ahead. Finally, his attempts to "calm" Freddy seem forced, like 'I hope he doesn't realize it was me'. His reaction was much more subdued than we have seen him, editing and all (although this could support #2, getting caught up in the gate). Prob=VERY HIGH

Scenario 3 fits with Jonathan's beharior. That extra edge the Mental Magician is always looking for. He does do some really smart things in the race... maybe this was a calculation that went over the line. I wonder at the editing job the producers did on this particular incident, as Freddy's ranting were in the trailer and it was a pivotal point.

I replayed the scene on my VCR countless times. Here is what I surmize - all locations are facing the racers:

Lori & Bolo - far right, in front. Lori is facing sideways and Bolo's hands are at his side as the gate goes up. At the point the gate starts coming down, Bolo is already moving forward and his hands are still down. Same for Lori. Probability=0

Adam & Rebecca (pepper demon) - they are behind L&B. I'm not sure they are tall enough to have reached that far either. Rebecca's yawning as the gate goes up. Prob=-10

Kris & Jon - like these two would pull the gate down. They are on the fornt row to the left of L&B. Their arms stay down the whole time, also, during the raising of the bar. Prob=0

Gus & Hera - on the back row next to F&K. I agree that Hera got the worst of the force. Prob=0

and finally, that brings us to our villains

Jonathug & Victoria (I really wanted to name a daughter that, oh well) - they start out somewhere near the middle but end up the farthest to the left, near the fulcrum with Jonavillain farthest over. We don't get a good shot of them as the gate is going up, but we do get one before anything happens. Jonathan has a smirk, mischievious smirk, like he's planning something while they appear to be more in the center. As the gate goes up they are not in the initial shot upclose but show up as a blur in the distant shot. He appears to actually duck under the gate as it goes up and appears to be through it as it comes down. The picture is VERY grainy at this point and then they do the behind shot that focuses on Freddy. From this vantage point we see Jonathan running away from the gate in only a few frames and he is way to the right of everyone else. Prob=VERY HIGH

My analysis, and I don't want to read too much into this (but that is half the fun, right?):
I don't by the gravity, all-by-itself, thing. Major design flaw, if so. And we all know what great engineers the Euros are, right. Prob=5%

I also am not comfortable with it went up too hard and bounced back down. I don't think it was all the way up. If it were, the gate would be useless in that configuration as no vehicle of any size could pass through. Prob=0

Possibilities:
1. The race organizers designed it like that. The gatekeeper (what a great word) was told to let/force the gate to do this. I'm not comfortable with this as I don't think they would do something that might intentionally hurt the racers. Make the racers sick eating 24 oz of spicy soup, sure - dinged by a gate, no. Prob=10%

2. When our villain, Jonathan, ducked under the gate, he got caught on it causing it come back down. I'll be generous and say that has a high probability. Prob=50+%

3. Jonathug recognizes an opportunity. By yanking it back down, he could severly inhibit the progress of other teams. No one is behind him and he's off to the side, out of everyone's view. The smirk as edited - supporting evidence. He seems to veer off (although he is hidden by others, so this is conjecture based on his trajectory in the 2 different views) and doesn't keep pace with other racers who made it through the gate, as if taking a look back (as a runner, I can attest that looking back can make you veer). In the mad rush he seems to have caught up, later. So he was even, behind, even/ahead. Finally, his attempts to "calm" Freddy seem forced, like 'I hope he doesn't realize it was me'. His reaction was much more subdued than we have seen him, editing and all (although this could support #2, getting caught up in the gate). Prob=VERY HIGH

Scenario 3 fits with Jonathan's beharior. That extra edge the Mental Magician is always looking for. He does do some really smart things in the race... maybe this was a calculation that went over the line. I wonder at the editing job the producers did on this particular incident, as Freddy's ranting were in the trailer and it was a pivotal point.

I am going out on a limb becuase gates dont just fall back down and it was a malfunction i am going to say one of the leading team pushed the gate up hard and made it bounce back down becuase i went up really fast. It was prolly Lori because Gates dont just fall back down. But i do think he over-reacted he should have been a girl like Hera and not complain.

"The world is an imperfect place. Sometimes, screws fall out." And sometimes, heavy gates, when opened, bounce back. That's why you can't proceed through most gates, even when they appear to have opened. They wait to see that they'll stay that way.